The parent of a 2016 alumna of Elon University, Chief Judge Roger L. Gregory of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit will deliver remarks to graduates in the Class of 2020 in a December online ceremony.
A distinguished jurist and parent of an Elon University alumna will deliver the Commencement address in December when Elon Law graduates the Class of 2020 in an online ceremony.
Commencement is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, December 12, and will be streamed at elon.edu/live. Degrees will be conferred on 122 graduates of Elon Law’s 2.5-year program.
Chief Judge Roger L. Gregory’s Commencement remarks will come just two years after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s visit to Greensboro for oral arguments in the Robert E. Long Courtroom, where he presided over the court session and then visited with students and other members of the Elon Law community.
Gregory is the only person in the history of the United States to be appointed to a federal appellate court by two presidents of different political parties. President Bill Clinton recess appointed him to the Court of Appeals in late 2000, and President George W. Bush commissioned his lifetime appointment in July 2001.
Gregory is a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States and his past leadership positions include rector of Virginia Commonwealth University, and president of the Old Dominion Bar Association. He presently serves as trustee emeritus for the University of Richmond.
Numerous awards have been bestowed on him, including the National Conference of Christians and Jews Humanitarian Award, the National Bar Association’s Gertrude E. Rush and Equal Justice Awards, the Washington Bar Association’s Charles Hamilton Houston Merit Medallion, the Old Dominion Bar Association’s L. Douglas Wilder Vanguard Award, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Award of Excellence, and the University of Richmond School of Law’s William Green Award for Professional Excellence.
A member of the American Law Institute, Gregory grew up in Petersburg, Virginia, and graduated from Virginia State College and the University of Michigan Law School. Formerly a partner in the law firm of Wilder & Gregory, he is the first African-American to sit on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.